


Upbringing

by The_gayest_andalite



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Aliens, Anxiety, Asexual, Asexuality Spectrum, BPD, Borderline Personality Disorder, Centaurs, Environmentalism, FRICKING, Fights, Forgiveness, M/M, Mental Illness, Other, Outer Space, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rebellion, Romance, Rude - Freeform, Running, Sex, Space Husbands, ace - Freeform, animal rights, anxious, lgbta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 15:25:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3983125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_gayest_andalite/pseuds/The_gayest_andalite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keep up with me on me blog and tell me what to do: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thegayestandalite</p><p>A new group of andalites hit earth head first.</p><p>Angry, sarcastic, humorous, andalites, tired of all the shit and ready to win this war, again.</p><p>This new guerrilla cell bursts open the complexities of andalite civilization and enriches multi dimensional worlds like never before.</p><p>Here we follow a young andalite, ostracized in too many ways to count, said to be raised off world for his eccentric ways, and then thrown into the mix of snobbery, classism, and bigotry that plague andalite existence.<br/>He's ready to fight, yeerks, andalites, family, himself. He could hardly give a shit anymore.</p><p>Is he ready to do what he came here to do? </p><p>Mean andalites, sarcastic andalites, funny, gay, bi, ace, environment rights activist, rude, cuddly, diverse, over emotional, feminist, mentally ill, pissed off, friendly, lovey, hand holding, poetry writing, nick namey andalites.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A large alien Curses Everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> REWRIIITTTE

  
A Metallic wail streaked across the light blue sky, trailing behind it rather serene looking puffs of white smoke.  
  
The shrieking thing landed in a strike of dirt and wood debris, with a healthy helping of metallic scrap spraying everywhere as the friction of earth dragged it to a halt.  
  
Several pairs of mammalian and bird eyes watched warily from the safety of the remaining woods where the Thing landed – after fleeing from the initial terror of the landing.  
  
They immediately around 'bouted that decision, with the following onslaught of cursing.  
  
<FUCK- FUCKIn FUCKING SHIT PIECE OF FUCK SHIT. OW>  
A blue, four legged critter stumbled out of the wreckage. Luckily he had the four legs to help prop him up as he leaned against the doorway of the wreck.  
  
He was Big. Maybe a little over sized for an andalite. Characteristically his fur was mostly blue. A fetching bright cool blue, he felt. His tan markings were solid, making a clear division on his belly, under tail and a stripe of it down his torso, with a splash of it on his face. To put a fine point on what an andalite looked like, they were like blue furry space centaurs. The most striking feature is their tail. A long thick tail, laden with muscle. On the end of their tails sprouted a scythe type blade. Just taking a look at the mechanics of it, you could instantly tell this was an enormously effectively deadly fatality weapon. Just..unfairly so. On his head were two extra sets of eyes. Sorry, that was speciesist – there were two more eyes because there's nothing abnormal about more than two eyes, the world doesn't  revolve around one planet a'ight. They were on flexible stalks like a snail's, also furred, just not quite as furry as the rest of him. His main eyes were green, his stalk eyes – some sort of..yellow orange? Orange yellow? He had no mouth, which was why he was yelling in thought speak.  
  
He glared at his ship, uncharacteristically for an andalite, turning his head for his main eyes to really give it a Good glare.  
<Can there ever be a time where the ship does NOT crash? For once? Too much to ask,> he demanded.  
  
She sat serenely back, answering.  
  
Somehow chastened, he averted his glare toward a nearby tiny twitchy creature. Covered in fur ticked with various muted colors with a particularly fluffy tail, ok he'll give the little thing that much.  
  
<Don't you judge me, > he snapped.  
  
On further reflection he aimed his shredder at it, <I don't suppose you're anyone I should know?>  
  
When the nervous little creature didn't do anything to avoid imminent death, other then giving him a rather critical look, he felt, he lowered his weapon.  
  
  
Tearing through the forest, literally, clumps of dirt, pine needles, sod, flew up behind and branches ripped off bushes in front of them, were a mangerie of mostly out of place animals.  
  
There was a tiger, a bear, a wolf, oh my. And a gorilla.  
  
They had been on the run before their morphs where even completely finished, tearing through the scratchy thickets and clearing fallen logs in easy bounds. 'Cause they were the animorphs. Kids who gained the ability to turn into animals to fight evil aliens, because literally being any animal is better than being a human.  
  
Tobias, a human turned into a hawk*, wheeled in the sky. He had already arrived on the scene, having spotted the vehicle in his domain, the open sky.  
  
Ax, another andalite, was at a relay point. Like all abled andalites, he spoke through thought speak, and that can travel far, but it had it's limits. He used his position to inform the other animorphs what Tobias was telling him. An andalite, male, of course, thought the douchie andalite**, and apparently making enemies with, and then befriending, a squirrel.  
  
*See aforementioned any animal is better than human.  
**A fuckin' sexist douche  
  
Along with his wounded arm, the space andalite was also nursing an injured upper torso and he was willing to wager, what with the hot hell fire of pain streaking through his legs, that he had managed to break a few bones there as well.  
  
<You are my only friend in the world, seemingly harmless tiny creature who hopefully will not turn out to be absolutely deadly,> he intoned sadly.  
  
<Squirrels aren't generally considered dangerous, > answered a disembodied voice.  
  
He tried not to startle. This was fine.  
<That's good news....,> He paused, <are you the squirrel?> He watched the small animal twinge nervously and dart back and forth, it's tail seeming to twitch neurotically. Squirrel certainly felt like a good jumble of sounds to identify the creature.  
  
<No.> A feathered, winged, animal with dull brown coloring flapped in, landing gracefully on a large stone in front of him.  
  
<Of course, they're wrong, squirrels are petty and vicious,> it added.  
  
He looked fondly at the squirrel, you know what he called petty and vicious? A friend.*  
  
But the squirrel quickly departed, disappearing in a chattering of disapproving sounds.  
  
<I'm a hawk,> said the hawk, helpfully.  
  
The Alien noted the cruelly shaped beak and nasty black talons curled into grasping hooks, on each toe. Uncalled for overkill in his opinion.  
  
<Hello,> he responded cordially.  
  
*He knows you make friends by having things in common with them.  
  
<Soo, noticed you crashed your blade runner over there,> the sharp bird said conversationally, one wing pointed towards the wreckage.  
  
His four eyes followed the motion to his ship. He turned his main eyes back. <That's your opinion.>  
  
<My...opini- The thing is crumbled like piece of trash dude,> Little Pointy, as was his new name for the bird, said incredulously.    
  
<It's fine,> he responded.  
  
<Uhh,->  
  
<It's fiiinnee,> he insisted.  
  
<Uh huh. Yep. So...just wondering, throwing this out there as a humble suggestion...could yo use any help for you know, the injuries and the bleeding?>  
  
He noted the blue blood smeared and seeping though his blue furry fingers that clutched and obscured an obvious wound, It was firmly planted over it on the basis that he wasn't going to be any happier seeing it.  
  
<Could be, could be. Who are you?>  
  
A distinct silence.  
  
<Enlightening, > He answered back to the hawkward silence.  
But he wasn't being sarcastic, snarky sure, because someone who did not want to reveal themselves to an andalite whilst using andalite technology, by deduction was likely not an andalite.  
  
<I'm talking with our leader to see how I should answer that-,> he ruffled his feathers, < Ah- Never mind, they're here anyway.>  
  
The andalite turned his focus to the cracking of dry foliage and rustling of flora. What he saw was precisely, a large creature, a larger creature, a larger larger creature, and hells help him, an even larger creature than that. All that compiled with claws and teeth.  
The second larger creature, the one with stripes he noticed secondarily, stepped forward and away from the pack.  
<Who are you, and what are you doing here, > he demanded.  
  
His eyes slid off stripey to side glance him in disdain. A knock kneed boisterous little artish if he ever heard one. Only people who didn't have self assurance of being in control have to act like they're in control.  
  
<Ah, you see, what I'm doing here and who I am, is, hm, Mind your own business, is what.>  
  
Striped jerked his head back, startled. They all seemed to be looking at him with a blank look on their faces, not that he was any judge on alien facial expressions.  
  
The first, smallest, large creature looked at Striped, <Look, he's injured, let's just get him back and taken care of.>  
  
Oh, right. Good officer, bad officer. The oldest trick in the galaxy.  
  
But his hearts squeezed to a halt as a final creature came to view. This one was an andalite. One that he knew.  
  
The injured andalite stretched out full length along the grass and fallen leaves. His tail looped nonchalantly and his narrowed, hooded gaze, all the characteristics of suddenly not giving a fuck.  
  
<On second reflection, I am fine. You may move along.>  
  
Stripey gave him a cock eyed stare.  
  
<Ok Guy, in case you haven't noticed, what choice do you have? I'm willing to bet you can't morph or you wouldn't be hemorrhaging to death right now.> This was from the walking torso.  
  
He snapped his head and glared with all four eyes. <What choice do I have? I have lots of choices. I could do anything. I have so many fucking choices right now  am up to my tail in choices. So kindly fuck off.>  
  
Inner truth time. He had, yet again, forgotten about morphing in the heat of things. Now he had to commit. Should he retain his injuries purely out of spite? Decisions are hard.  
  
A moment of shock. A moment of private silence as the aliens conversed with each other, trying to puzzle him out.  
  
He decided to act like they weren't there. He opened his handheld telecommunication device.  
  
He knew his cell wasn't going to be very pleased about yet another ship down, and the..deadly deadly injuries. He quickly typed out his message and hit send, while very pointedly ignoring the band of..morph...creatures. Meatures? No, mashing two words together to make a new one was lazy.  
  
He fiddled with his device, signing onto the military networking device created to be very serious and informative to the military effort. Predictably, it was appropriated by bored stationed andalites throughout the galaxy. The humor that permeated was often filled with things that were Not Funny at All, but there was little choice other than to laugh. It was a way to break up the monotony of soldier life and the anxiety of 2 percent of total terror. The creatures..crearphs? No – Had still not gone away.  
  
He thumbed the screen, still keeping a wary but outwardly nonchalant eyes on them. Only two though.  
  
True to form, the military circle was bored and libidinous. Typically the case between the horror. Stories about adventures, friends, thinly concealed depression and anxiety...a lot of interesting and also awful photos of flora and fauna.  
Obligatory check ins so your friends still knew you were alive.  
And his personal favorite, those awful, disgusting, indecent pictures that no upstanding andalite- he paused to press and save into his archive and redirected into sub archive for this particularly tame brand of depravity- would ever condone, or admit it actually even existed.  
Oh, some messages asking about local recreationals. How did he ever become a resource on that?  
Well, he was always happy to help, he sent off some of his suggestions.  
  
The large orange fellow with the stripes and entirely too much tooth, stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do with this clearly injured alien who was actually dead set on ignoring them.  
  
<Who are you waiting for, > he hazarded.  
  
<Who are you waiting,> he answered blithely, <I'm waiting for someone to mind their own business. Bye.>  
  
His communicator blipped and he refocused on the screen. A serene smile over took his eyes. Predictably his cell, his friends, were simultaneously cursing him. Ha. They care that he was hurt.  
They looove him.  
He did a double take when he saw how close they were. Maybe just a day away, whatever time means in the fabric of, space anyway.  
  
Just don't die before we can even get there, they scolded.  
  
He thought for a second.  
  
Don' tell me what to do, he responded.  
  
<Ok,> Stripey said, <Ok, we're going to go. Leave. You're going to be here by yourself, alone, here. With a bunch of dangerous earth animal predators. While you're bleeding. That's fine. Let's go.>  
  
<Well that was ostentatiously repetitive. Bye.> He replied, uninterested.  
  
The earth aliens were all looking now, at their leader, and each other uncertainly. He noted it to himself, they were social animals who looked to a leader for direction. Intel was so easy.  
  
The smallest furry animal seemed to to stare urgently at Stripey. He named her Grey Paws.  
The one most dedicated to her altruistic, instincts that a social animal needs to protect their group for survival. He made a note.  
  
But his metaphorical knock kneed foal will win out, because he had a plan. It was so obvious he intended to just be sneaky, morph into something smaller and stick around. Maybe even try to sneak inside his blade ship, should he decide to stumble back into it. Pain radiated from his side as he accidentally reminded himself of his injuries.  
  
He again, focused on his comm. Pretending not to watch them leave.  
  
But it still hurt a little, the tiniest of tinges when Aximili had not even attempted to talk to him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> REREREEEEEWRIITE

 

**CHAPTER 2:**

It hardly seemed any time at all,certainly within the to hour limit he was toying with – which would decide if these injuries were to heal themselves the old fashioned way, but the sun was starting to set.

And the native wildlife seemed to blaze with nocturnal intensity...or he could simply be becoming more alert to danger.

He had refrained from informing his shorm of the fact that it was becoming nighttime on the planet, and he was as of yet outside of his ship, bleeding.

He glanced again, forlornly at the Blade Ship. It was only a few yards away and offered total protection.

He thought about getting the pain over and done with morphing and retreating back, but he'd put it off another hour. He did have an awful stubborn streak in him and the special ability to hurt himself out of actual spite.

One of his many talents.

ArrrOOoooOOOOOooooo

His ears pricked as did the fur on his spine. He listened carefully to the long, drawn out howl. It was followed by another, and then another.

 

<It's as if the forest had been actually engineered to generate horror, > he thought cynically.

Oh well, if time in the field taught him anything, it was the abject overwhelming silence that consumes and chews through the night is when it was time to worry.

The howls stopped.

<Ah.> He thought.

The pack surrounded him. It was pitch dark, tiny pricks of warmth less star light made it's way through the canopy. No warmth and almost zero light, pretty much the most useless kind of sun.

They were the same animals as Grey Paws. Long snouted, rough furred, four legged predators with large curving fangs and yellow eyes. A predator uses fangs to break vertebrae rendering the prey helpless, or to latch onto it's breathing air ways to spill out the aorta-tic blood and breath until death.

 

He didn't bother straining his eyes to keep track of their nervous movement.

An andante's primary sense was sight, but there was a time and a place he wasn't limited by andalite instincts.

He had tucked in his limbs along his body, except for his tail. A smart predator tries to grab the exposed body part.

The leader or maybe just the bolder of the animals, was staring straight at him, More than that, examining him over and over.

Every once in a while she decided to growl at a movement he may have made. Growls, he had learned, were noises of aggression, sort of a self pep talk to gear up for an attack.

He gently swooshed his tail over the animal's head, causing her to jump back.

True, it was a rare predator that charged in without fear...an injury in the unforgiving wild could easily lead to death. Or a lot of pain and suffering.

Her yellow eyes narrowed, scrutinizing this new, maybe prey. Maybe if he hadn't been in one spot for so long, and maybe if he wasn't visibly injured and bleeding they'd have ignored him. But none of that didn't happen soo...

The Grey Paws, or his new name for them, “The Spine Chilling Yell Beasts of the Night” leader lunged and grabbed his tail blade.

 

<Heh,> he informed the animal as she searched for a grip on his tail blade.

<Give it up, you're only serving to make my blade look more bad ass, > he said, referencing the small grooves being etched into his blade by the beast's raking teeth. 

He gave his tail a tiny tug, and sure enough, the animal's realization that something was getting away gripped harder and in her determination to not let it get away, was dragged forward. Too late. Too late to be worried about being forcefully dragged towards an alien creature.

 

The injured andalite snatched the animal's loose scruff and brought her chest to chest as he started acquiring her DNA.

 

Thick grey fur, a rash of it, erupted from his face, down his torso, down his back, his eyes narrowed and grew yellow and sharp. His tail blade sunk back into his tail, as it also lost it's muscularity. His nose elongated into a muzzle, teeth bursting through his gum membranes, lining his new mouth. And finally, the sensation of the ground rushing towards him.

 

He closed his eyes as he focused his mind inside itself, then outward, replacing it with this new mind as he pushed his conscious back out again.

 

He opened his eyes and.

 

Never before had he seen anything besides this. Never before had he been anything other than fierce and cunning and powerful creature of the forest. Hi nose had always been so powerful, picking up the scent of night itself.

 

His ears always so keen and ready, catching every tiny noise. His legs whose paws gripped the earth, ready to run and run and run.

 

A great lolling grin broke out across the muzzle he's always had and showed the teeth that he was born with the tongue hanging out that had forever existed.

 

The wounds that never existed healed.

 

He drew his head to the stars and howled for his pack.

 

A blast of cool night air distracted him from his animal's instincts. <Better,> he thought to himself, enjoying the pain free walking and breathing.

 

He snapped up his comm. and trotted high eared back to his ship, he had to do this quick lest those earthlings were waiting for their chance.

 

<Ship, Open, > he commanded privately.

 

<Command recognized as authorized by Master Sharp Shooter Bor'ij – Opening, > it confirmed.

 

The door opened and he quickly jumped in and out, comm. Free.

 

<Ship, lock that shit up,> he ordered.

 

<Speech Command recognized and authorized by Master Sharp Shooter Bor'ij 'Locking that Shit up',> it responded calmly.

 

Bor'ij's tongue lolled into canine laughter. He had some good natured amiable friends willing to customize his ship's programming.

 

Although thinking on it, he probably had some not so good natured friends who might have tampered with his ship to begin with.

 

This new morph was called by the night. A the new smells and sounds...Oh.

 

He blinked blankly at the Spine Chilling Yell Beasts of the Night that now seemed completely unsure of what to do. Whereas they had one leader, now were two. Bor'ij grinned a canine grin and scatted off at a wild trot to let them reconnect with their defeated pack mate.

Run, run, run, Faster and Faster.

He threw his front paws out with complete abandon. This was Joy! Whenever he thought he might reach his limit, he thought, why not a little more, and faster he went.

He bounded off logs and trees, splashed through ice cold streams, with the soft dirt padding his furious paws. 

It was 1.45 hours before he finally slowed. Deep intakes of cold sharp air filled his barrel chest. He took one long breath and howled until his lungs burned.

He wasn't expecting a response. But still. It was lonely when there was none.

He trotted forward and found himself on the edge of the forest. In the distance, a building full of animal smells and dried grass.

Probably nice and warm. Probably Great for naps.

He slunk onward, happy to explore, but cautious of what he may find.

He found...the wooden building was actually great for napping. Ignoring all the interesting earth animals or now, he had leapt to the loft and snuggled into the straw, remembering to demorph and remorph, his internal clock set for next time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our andalite meets Cassie's dad. They're best friends.
> 
> (rewritedone)

CHAPTER 3

He awoke to the surpey light flooding in, that had been previously peacefully seeping in through cracks, and more importantly was out of his way.

The door had been swung open, and in waddled a bipedal animal, heavily burdened with two buckets.

A Human. He remembered. The species who dominated this planet where humans.

He studied him through wolven eyes until it clicked, he was caring for the injured animals. Injured by what or whom was indeterminable though.

He watched him leave and leapt from his perch and started investigating the other animals. They weren't very pleased. The backed into the corners of their cages, hissing, growling, baring teeth. Generally looking pissed about this clear and obvious predator encroaching on them in a confined space. He decided to give them space. Nose to the dirt, he sniffed his way out the door.

The sun hit his pelt, and fresh air brushed his face. He felt his animal sense lift with joy with the joy of a fine day, and took the opportuity to roll in the grass and dirt, leaping back up again and exclaiming, “Arr!” He shook the loose dirt and grass bits off and jigged over to another building, denser and smaller than the last.

His sharp ears heard a CLANK.

Oh.

He was downwind, and hadn't picked up on the human's scent, but there he was, right behind him, staring.

He tried not to act embarassed as he focused back on the human.

The human seemed scared, that was a smart thing to be considering, but not scared enough when you considered a little more.

But. Surely someone who works with animals would be ok with them existing outside of a cage? Maybe?

“A wolf?” The human said, to himself, surely to himself.

Shit. Let's see...friendly...what does a friendly animal do? Be as non threatening as possible.

The morphed andalite sat down. Then considered, and moved down further, so he was on his belly, large soufully eyes gazing up at the human, as he laid his head on his long slender legs.

“A Wolf-dog?” He asked doubtfully.

He wagged his tail hopefully, unsure as to why. That was more of a threat with andalites.

He let the wolf brain do the thinking on how to act like a nice wolf. Maybe the human would understand it.

He still looked doubtful, “Come here, c'mere boy,” he called, patting his knees in a dangerous, gravity defying maneuver.

Bor;ij took the opportunity to surge forward in a wild legged gallop and leap on him, paws on his shoulders, as he very friendly like sniffed his hair and face in the friendliest wolf fashion.

_he privately said,_

“A very friendly Wolf dog-”. He amended. He scratched Bor'ij under his chin, which in a way, was a big confidence booster.

“You must belong to someone,” he mused. His expression darkened, “Unless they abandoned you here.” 

“Come on-come on boy, let's go inside,” he beckoned him to follow.

Do- Does that really work? Do animals just- follow, well ok. He trotted with the human. 

He stepped inside the smaller building.

Inside was very...different. All right angles. Hard floor. With..fake..grass covering it. Whatever that was for. Old dust sat and collected or drifted in the air. He sneezed. He liked the barn better. Much more practical. 

“I bet you're hungry, “ the human said, curling his mouth upwards. Bor'ij balked before examining the expression carefully. It was normally a bad thing when someone showed you their teeth. But he was otherwise non-aggressive. 

he agreed.. He turned his head before adding, 

They entered a smallish room, lined with wooden cabinets and non-wooden appliances.

He asked suspiciously. 

The human was opening up a couple of cabinents, taking out a small metal bowl with a silverish gleam, and placing it on a table that dominated the room.

He craned his neck to try and see, snuffling the air, but he received nothing but metalliness. He settled on his haunches and leapt up easily on the (wooden) table

he said with an air of approval. he asked, examining the polished table with his nose.

The human seemed to be amused with his antics and poured a cup full of pellets into the metal bowl. Ah. It was all coming together. “Heeere you go,” he said encouragingly.

Bor'ij gave the food a careful sniff before recoiling. It was some sort of mishmash of...dead animals..and..garbage was the only way he could put it. It hurt his nose, like the dust molecules were chemical embers lodging and burning into his tender nostril flesh. He found it downright offensive. He pushed it away with his paw and gave the human a dead pan look.

The human male leaned on the table with his arms crossed. “Picky eater, huh? Not unusual with wild animal cross breeds. They probably fed you whole prey.”

Bor'ij winced his eye, he pleaded, But something suddenly distracted Bor'ij from his thoughts. His ears shot to attention and his gaze focused on the direction of the entrance.

“Dad?” Called a tinnier younger voice. A young human female, younger because of softer rounder and smaller features, he surmised, with the same dark coloring of the male. “I'm home -,” she balked as she walked through the door way. “Is that a wolf?”She stared at him in a very uncomfortable manner.

“A Wolf-dog, sweetie. At least that's my best guess. Seems very friendly, very social and adaptable to his surroundings. So probably high content dog with a trick of the phenotypes favoring the wolf content. Am I right boy?” He raised his hand, palm flat and vertical.

He remembered vaguely that phenotypes where genes that were visbily expressed. Some old visage of learning still sticking to him before he had left that whole “education” scene and probably only retained because biology had always been one of the more interesting lessons. He loosely copied the gesture, lifting his paw up in the air and clumsily letting it down again.

The human male made a deep chesty noise, laughing? And rubbed Bor'ij's shaggy wolf head affectionately. “He's a cute one,” he said admiringly.

he agreed. “Oh, that's so cool,” the girl said, stepping towards him. Her face was looking rather stiff. Maybe “cool” meant something bad.

“Where...did you find him...dad?”

“He was out front, someone probably left him here,” he shrugged, “He follows and listens pretty well, he has to have had human contact before.”

he said smugly, 

“Oh, so did you call mom yet? See what you're going to do with him?” She suggested carefully.

“Yeah,” he paused, “I guess it's going to be a little difficult to figure out where he belongs. Probably not a zoo,” he added. He left the room, to another room Bor;ij guessed.

A thing bothered him. He twitched an ear backwards. A Zoo? They went around abducting animals from their homes, like the Skrit Nas? Gross. This probably ties into the tree thing somehow.

He left, leaving behind the girl – his daughter, against the wall opposite of him. Scrutinizing him carefully.

Softly, she spoke, “Are you the andalite we met yesterday?”

His outside demeanor froze into nonchalant animal mode, but his inner mind wheeled.

Of course, the earth aliens would have lived near by to get to him so quickly. He looked at her in what he hoped was purely earth animal interest.

She came forwards, quietly and carefully placed a hand on his shoulder. “We only want to help. I know that...andalites have to keep a lot of secrets, and that they have to distrust other species, but we really do just want to help.

He perked an ear to her. She knew far too much about andalites. Of course, they were..friends or whatever with that, Aximili guy. He'd have probably told them a lot, being stuck on this planet with only them as companions.

He whined loudly, uncomfortable with this soft pleading, using his own tricks on him was unnerving. He licked his snout nervously. 

Bor'ij's ears shot up again. He heard a vehicle. 

He tried to listen carefully as the human girl regarded him just as carefully.

Yes, this was worrisome. The earth creatures and their morphing technology but- What he heard was far more worrisome.

“Nearest human dwelling near ufo-”

“Ready to engage humans for aquirement-”

He was meant to land on earth silently, but that plan had changed due to circumstances out of his control.

He leapt off the table, arranging his long limbs and huge paws gracefully, and careened towards the stairs, which lead to a higher elevation point. The human was in close pursuit, but he ignored her for now.

He turned sharply into another room, it had a huge cushion, and more importantly, a window.

He jumped up and steadied his paws on the window, staring intently out, honing his ears on the controllers. There were four. That was a lot, at least for what he was planning.

They were all wearing black, and had black eye glasses to hide their features. They seemed to be talking on communication devices.

“Excuse me!” The girl was behind him. She would do.

Without breaking his gaze on the controllers, he demorphed.

“So it is you,” she regarded him warily, and stepped forward. She stepped into range.

His arm shot out, quicker, most likely quicker than any andalite she's see, save their tails, and gripped her wrist tight. 


	4. Chapter 4

He acquired her DNA while she struggled to get free, thrashing out in desperation as she realized what he was doing.

 “What are you doing?! What do you want?” She demanded. 

 

She was well aware that she was in tail territory now. He could see it on her face, the mistake she had made… but he had no intention of using it.

He still held onto her as her morphed his way back, becoming furless, losing his eyes, legs, tail, as he by all accounts became naked and helpless.

His mind immediately went to consume everything, to let the morph take control and function it’s own body, devouring the instincts and the fear and the wants and needs.

He stared back at her with her own eyes.

He grinned. A huge toothy grin that might have meant to be a little bit threatening if he bothered to think about such things a little more deeply.

“There are controllers here to infest your household,” he informed her with an disarming smile.

Her face paled, “No- NO! They can’t-“ her face grew hard.

 

“I’m taking care of it-caare of itt,” he ran his tongue around his mouth, an interesting array of sounds although not much different than other mouth morphs.

 

She finally shook his arm off her, “What’re you smiling about? My home is about to be infested!”

He raised his eyebrows in minor annoyance, but still a slight smile hinted all over his face, “I told you, I am taking care of it.”

 

“What are you going to do? Talk to them?” She asked incrediously. 

 

He gave her a critical look, “Am I going to talk to an aggressive alien species bent on enslavment? No. I’m going to ask you where you might have some weapons though.”

 

She looked at him, knitting her eyebrows in confusion, “Why did you morph me? Why not use your andalite form, or some animal morph?”

 

He searched the room, looking for a suitable weapon while replying, “They’re looking for an andalite, it’s best they don’t find one, or they really will stop at nothing to destroy this place. And Anyway-“ He straightened up and looked directly at her, “I have something to prove. Now- weapons, please?”

 

“There’s…there’s machetes and other lawn care stuff at the back of the house-“

“I highly suggest you locate these weapons and remove any humans that are unable to fight from the household, and return here with aforementioned weapons. The controllers outside will brief for a few minutes before trying to enter the domicile, so that’s exactly how much time you have.”

She didn’t move.

“NOOW? Perhaps?” He snapped.

 

She raised a finger, opened her mouth like she was about to say something, lowered her finger, brought it up again,” We’re going to talk about this later,” she swore.

 

Yeah, the last words before an eventual scolding, sounds about right.

 

He strode to an assortment of clothing articles, something some species used rather than fur.

 

Well, they seemed complicated. He settled on a few long scarves and did a warriors weave to secure his upper torso, and skirt and leg wrap for his lower torso.

He hesitated. All considering, he was working with a new morph, unpracticed, anything at all that would be a disadvantage to him could be catastrophe. 

But.

 

 He did take this dna without permission, and lead an alien invasion to their doorstep. And anyway, he was awesome enough to compensate. He took another cloth article to hold onto, until the right moment.

 

He quickly got to work practicing his movement. A few million years of evolution wouldn’t leave a two legged critter wanting for balance. 

 

Logically speaking they’d have to have some sort of balancing mechanism.. He stretched out, practicing emptying his mind to let the human instincts operate its body properly.

She came back with carrying an assortment of rusted, inferior metaled blades.  But they were long. And Sharp. She took in his attire. 

 

She was largely relieved he had decided to cloth her dna, but-

 

“It doesn’t make sense,” she said finally, “You’re planning on killing them anyway so why does it matter what morph you’re in.”

Bo’ij grinned, “Ah, you got me. Just call it a bet that needs settling.” He did a great cackle, and gripped one of the blades between his teeth before hoisting himself onward and out the window.

“Who the hell are you?” She yelled exasperated.

 

He looked back up as the gravity rushed him back down to the earth, a smile curved around the blade.

<I’m Bor’ij, and I’m here to win this stupid war.>


	6. BONUS UPDATE: Don't Start CASSIE Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassie Asks too Many Questions and Bor'ij gets to- er HAS to, fight some yeerks.

He acquired her DNA while she struggled to get free, thrashing out in desperation as she realized what he was doing.  
“What are you doing?! What do you want?” She demanded. She was well aware that she was in tail territory now.  
He could see it on her face, the mistake she had made... but he had no intention of using it.

He still held onto her as her morphed his way back, becoming furless, losing his eyes, legs, tail, as he by all accounts became naked and helpless.

His mind immediately went to consume everything, to let the morph take control and function it’s own body, devouring the instincts and the fear and the wants and needs.

He stared back at her with her own eyes.

He grinned. A huge toothy grin that might have meant to be a little bit threatening if he bothered to think about such things a little more deeply.

“There are controllers here to infest your household,” he informed her with an disarming smile.

Her face paled, “No- NO! They can’t-“ her face grew hard.

“I’m taking care of it-caare of itt,” he ran his tongue around his mouth, an interesting array of sounds although not much different than other mouth morphs.

She finally shook his arm off her, “What’re you smiling about? My home is about to be infested!”

He raised his eyebrows in minor annoyance, but still a slight smile hinted all over his face, “I told you, I am taking care of it.”

“What are you going to do? Talk to them?” She asked incrediously.

He gave her a critical look, “Am I going to talk to an aggressive alien species bent on enslavment? No. I’m going to ask you where you might have some weapons though.”

She looked at him, knitting her eyebrows in confusion, “Why did you morph me? Why not use your andalite form, or some animal morph?”

He searched the room, looking for a suitable weapon while replying, “They’re looking for an andalite, it’s best they don’t find one, or they really will stop at nothing to destroy this place. And Anyway-“ He straightened up and looked directly at her, “I have something to prove. Now- weapons, please?”

  
“There’s…there’s machetes and other lawn care stuff at the back of the house-“

“I highly suggest you locate these weapons and remove any humans that are unable to fight from the household, and return here with aforementioned weapons. The controllers outside will brief for a few minutes before trying to enter the domicile, so that’s exactly how much time you have.”

She didn’t move.

“NOOW? Perhaps?” He snapped.

She raised a finger, opened her mouth like she was about to say something, lowered her finger, brought it up again,” We’re going to talk about this later,” she swore.

Yeah, the last words before an eventual scolding, sounds about right.

He strode to an assortment of clothing articles, something some species used rather than fur.

Well, they seemed complicated. He settled on a few long scarves and did a warriors weave to secure his upper torso, and skirt and leg wrap for his lower torso.

He hesitated. All considering, he was working with a new morph, unpracticed, anything at all that would be a disadvantage to him could be catastrophe. But. He did take this dna without permission, and lead an alien invasion to their doorstep. And anyway, he was awesome enough to compensate.  
He took another cloth article to hold onto, until the right moment.

He quickly got to work practicing his movement. A few million years of evolution wouldn’t leave a two legged critter wanting for balance. Logically speaking they’d have to have some sort of balancing mechanism..  
He stretched out, practicing emptying his mind to let the human instincts operate its body properly.

She came back with carrying an assortment of rusted, inferior metaled blades.  
But they were long. And Sharp.  
She took in his attire. She was largely relieved he had decided to cloth her dna, but-

“It doesn’t make sense,” she said finally, “You’re planning on killing them anyway so why does it matter what morph you’re in.”

Bo’ij grinned, “Ah, you got me. Just call it a bet that needs settling.” He did a great cackle, and gripped one of the blades between his teeth before hoisting himself onward and out the window.

“Who the hell are you?” She yelled exasperated.

He looked back up as the gravity rushed him back down to the earth, a smile curved around the blade.  
  
<I’m Bor’ij, and I’m here to win this stupid war.>


	7. Thick Thighs Save Lives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whereas Cassie's thick ass thighs save the day, or something.

He could feel his makara rising rapidly, wildly. They called it fight or flight response.  
It whipped him, filled him, burning his heart from the inside out. It made him angry and rageful and happy and giddy.  
  
He hit the ground, feet first and rolled as if he were an expert in two legged mobility. It was 90 percent attitude. It was all 90 percent attitude, fake that and you’re good. Well. 90 percent good.  
  
He kept his center of gravity low, to the ground. Keeping himself steadier with his brand new morph.  
  
He felt the rough taped grip. Hand to hand combat wasn’t his style, or at least his first choice, but it’d do.  
Quickly whipping the scarf around his face, masking his identifying features, he charged, slamming the sharp edge in an upward angle to the closest controller. He assumed the neck was a good place to start.  
  
The only thing the human controller had time to do was let out a startled scream, slashed short. A spray of the deepest red he ever saw splurted from his wound as he crumpled to the ground.  
  
His human morph screamed through his mind.  
  
Clamping down on those particular instincts, he turned to size up his next opponent.  
Of course the yeerks were not keen to die, and had pulled their weapons.  
Dracon beams.  
  
He barely let the thought touch his mind before he reacted, cutting towards the weapon holding hand.  
  
The blade was not sharp enough nor was his one handed attack strong enough to sever, but it was well enough. The weapon dropped and he came back with his other hand to deliver a downward blow to the neck.  
  
Pzzzr!  
  
Intense pain knocked brutally into his shoulder, he gnashed his teeth but he kept his grip  
A dracon beam was let loose.  
  
He turned angrily to the source and stared facing two dracon guns pointed straight at him.  
  
He rolled with ease, off the black vehicle to it’s other side, with beams chasing after and over him.  
  
That left his second target still at large, and ready for vengeance.  
  
The human controller reached over to grip his throat and dragged him out, slamming him down onto the vehicle’s metal casing.  
  
He loomed over the andalite, staggering his air flow, crushing his..human..throat..organs.  
  
Bor’ij grabbed the controller’s workin’ arm and rolled his legs up ward, forward, and wrapped them correspondingly around his neck. Using the tremendous thigh muscles of his morph to crush the air out of him with far more efficiency, he found that he could also bring the larger male human controller toppling over him head first, landing directly upside, thighs still crushing but now with his full weight.  
  
He glanced at the watching controllers and gave them a sly smile with a wink, picking up the abandoned dracon beam and casually shot the nearest controller with an effortless kill shot to the head in one smooth motion. Guns were his thing.  
  
The controller underneath him had stopped moving. So that left the one remaining controller and he was-  
Gone.  
  
Bor’ij looked around with his limited human eyes. he was just there! Damn sneaky little slugs.  
  
He carefully untangled his legs from the controller’s neck, readying his dracon beam.  
  
VROOM.  
  
The machine underneath him came to life, rumbling and hot. He whipped around to see the controllers face contorted in, what his human morph understood to be, rage behind the windshield.  
  
The vehicle screeched forward sliding him against the windshield.  
  
“offuck” he cried, his voice muffled by the scarf. The machine suddenly slammed to a stop, throwing him with inertia fueled vengeance forward.  
  
He thudded to the ground, his shoulder taking the brunt, the shoulder that was hit and already hurt. Luckily the manic energy dulled pain.  
  
  
With a small dust cloud puffing up around him.  
Hardly thinking he scrambled away to his left, as the vehicle revved and charged past him.  
He quickly scrambled to his feet, dracon beam in one hand, as he placed the blade in a loop of cloth behind him, and instantly started calculating. Or to be more precise, absorbing.  
The machine wheeled around, and this time it was Bor'ij that charged.  
He ran forward, utilizing his long legs, and leaped easily onto the hood, his foot sinking slightly into the flimsy metal, giving him balance and traction to leap onto the roof. Slamming himself onto the roof belly first and gripping onto the open window to keep from flying off again. He pulled himself against that awful inertia crap and crawled straight into the window.  
Seeing the controller he attempted to seize his collar and pull himself all the way into the moving vehicle.  
The controller panicked, letting go of the wheel that controlled the machine’s direction.  
Now it turned wildly wherever the terrain directed it, slamming Bor'ij against edge of the window opening, crushing his belly and giving him a sick feeling, and no doubt bursting open blood vessels left and right.  
"Fucking deities damnit," he growled to himself through gritted teeth.  
He refocused himself and heaved into the window opening. Instant reprieve from the dragging force of gravity or whatever. Of course, now there was a very scared and murderous controller he was sitting in the lap of.  
He reached behind him to grab his close combat weapon, the blade.  
But he hesitated.  
He leaned forward and whispered softly against his cheek, "If you surrender now, I won't kill you."  
The controller looked at him incredulously.  
It was absurd. He admitted it and knew it, utterly absurd, why should he trust this crazy person who just murdered the hell out of all his pals. They probably hung out and told jokes together or something.  
But it behooved him to try.  
The yeerk made it's move.  
Swiping his arm so that his elbow would make direct contact across Bor’ij’s face.  
It wasn't really a stabbing blade, but there you go, his arm was already moving before he could think about it.  
Plunging the old instrument, it probably only ever saw the sap of the surrounding flora, inside his chest, through flesh, through, bone, through his life.  
The controller only had time to uselessly grab at his attacker's back, feebly, with his life force leaking out of him.  
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" A familiar voice bellowed.  
Bor'ij looked over his shoulder. The mobile he was in was barreling straight towards him, and their domicile.  
Er. Er.  
He turned to grip the wheel with both hands and pull it to the right, veering it.  
Ok, temporary solution, so how did you stop it?  
The human male, Cassie's father, stared at him in astonishment.  
"Cassie?" He asked.  
Oops. Seems he still had enough indentifying features to be associated with his daughter.  
Well.  
Who knew.  
At that moment Cassie came running out the door.  
"DAD," she cried.  
"Cassie? Go back inside!"  
"YOU need get back inside, dad!" She grabbed his hand and hauled him backwards into the house.  
He wheeled the vehicle around again, kicking the dead controller off the seat into the passenger side.  
The car started to gradually slow.  
Ok, so somehow a dead controller was controlling the machine...  
On the bottom where pedals of some sort.  
He gave an experimental nudge with his foot and it surged forward.  
He hit the other pedal, it stopped front wheels first, jerking him and the dead controller forward.  
Ah yes. This would work.  
He directed the car in the opposite direction and slammed the go pedal, the machine screeched in response, wheels churning up sod before ripping forward and far.  
Soon he left the 3 grizzly kills behind him, as the engine rumbled softly.  
No andalite mobile made quite an exhilarating noise or satisfying rumbling vibrations.  
The trees and shrubbery zoomed past.  
He slowed down on the accelerator as a precautionary measure. So now the flora only sped past.  
He was suddenly aware of..fluttering.  
<HEY!>  
Bor'ij jerked his head in surprise.  
He looked around suspiciously.  
<Cassie?>  
<Stop the car!>  
He considered.  
<Stop the god damned car!> She shouted.  
He shifted his foot to slowly hit the brake pedal.  
Cassie somehow didn't seem the sort to even mildly swear, and when those people did he felt you ought to listen to what they're saying.  
A small feathery bird flopped into the seat when the car stopped.  
"So hi Cassie, how you doing?"  
She opened her beak and half sqawked, then seemed to reconsider and started morphing back to her human form.  
"Where do you think you're going?" she said evenly. He disbelieved the calm tone she was trying to partake.  
"I'mm, going..away from the murder scene?" he said helpfully.  
"Murder scene is right, there are three dead men, blood EVERYWHERE, how am I supposed to explain a crazy amazon girl murdering people left and right??" Her face seemed to be taking on a reddish tone.  
"...Don't?" He suggested.  
She took a deep breath.  
"Bor'ij."  
"Yes."  
"What is wrong with you?"  
He stared back at her balefully.  
"That's just hurtful Cassie."  
She took another breath.  
"Ok. Ok, I'm sorry Bor'ij. Just. Let me help you."  
He noticed the omitting of the word "we".  
She is a clever girl.  
"Sure Cassie, what do you want to help with," he asked innocently.  
"Well, first, why are you here?" She urged.  
He gave her a non committal look.  
"Oook. What is your deal with ax?"  
"Who?"  
"Aximili?"  
"I'm sorry, who?"  
"You know who," she said exasperated.  
"I don't want to talk about that Cassie, my emotional state is vulnerable."  
"So...Ax has something to do with your emotions?"  
Bor'ij frowned at her. She was far more perceptive than what he was used to.  
The cloth still covered his features, so she couldn't see his displeasure but he was pretty sure she could just sense it.  
She was a highly attuned social animal.  
"Ok." she answered to the silence of disapproval.  
She studied him, in his blood splattered clothing.  
The andalite who jumped out a window and took on four controllers single handedly on a preconceived dare.  
"How did you learn how to tie these weaves," she asked pointing to the wraps of clothing.  
Now he was really irritated. She was one of those types. Those people who notice things. A fuckin' noticer.  
"You trying to start a fight, Cassie?" he challenged.  
She looked at him startled, "Uum, no?"  
"Ok then." He gripped the wheel and stared ahead.  
She bit her lip.  
"Look, we really are only trying to help."  
She placed a hand on his shoulder.  
"How about I take you into town? You haven't been to earth before right?"  
"I don-"  
"It's just me," she promised.  
He looked ahead. It wasn't as if he had much to do before the rest of his cell got here.  
Anyway, doing recon work was a respectable use of time and could hardly be argued against by any critical or grumpy princesses.  
"Alright." he relented.  
She nodded her head.  
"Alright, first let's..get rid of this..uh..body."  



	8. Cassie you fucking Racist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not all andalites are the same.

They had finished dumping the body by a well known predator territory and were now standing in front of a pile of clothes, per cured from lines outside of human houses.  
His clothes were not "fashionable" or something and also covered in blood, which he could not argue.  
He cocked his eyebrow, "Really? Those colors together?"  
He looked skeptically at the clothes he was being handed.  
"Is an alien, from outer space, complaining about my fashion sense," she asked incredulously.  
"Yes and he's come through the fucking galaxy to tell you to get your shit together and learn to color coordinate," he said sourly.  
"You don't have to be rude," she scoffed, taking back the items.  
"Don't tell me how to live my life, Cassie," he replied, as he searched through the clothes.  
He picked up a pair of off black, uh, leg..clothes and a top of electric blue to put over the bloody, but dry, weave.  
She held up a pink pair of much smaller clothing.  
  
"This goes underneath your pants, you put them on first."  
He struggled to pull them on, wobbling dangerously to the left, and to the right.  
"You know, it's considered a violation to see a human without clothing, without their permission," she said evenly.  
He straightened up to look at her. "Sorry."  
He took the pants to struggle those on too. They were tight.  
"If it's any consolation, I promise to not use this information for evil."  
"Huh. Thanks, I guess."  
She watched him again, critically.  
"You don't...sound like andalites we met before."  
He pulled on his top.  
"You're talking about our old outdated technology that struggles to accurately relate language to each other. So much like Aximili, his technology is weak and busted."  
‘I thought you didn’t want to talk about Him,” she interrupted.  
“Oh, I’ll talk about him as long as it’s to insult him, thank you.”  
He paused.  
"Or you may be referring to my own syntax," he continued, as he pulled on his top, "In which case comes differences come from region, class, and status, basically, not all andalites are the fucking same Cassie, you racist." He finished pulling the shirt down and grinned at her.  
"I'm what one would refer to as, 'backwoods rifraff gutter trash'- Nice to meet you."  
Cassie knitted her brows together. "I never considered there might be different classes with andalites." It's not very nice, were the unspoken words on her face. "Is that why you have such a different name, Bor'ij?"  
He let an aggravated sigh, a Noticer and a Questioner. Probably a Listener as well. The worst.  
"..."  
"Yes."  
He spread out his arms. "Am I acceptable to the human populace?"  
"Hmm," she wrinkled her nose. "You need shoes, and maybe sunglasses to cover your face. I can't explain that I have a twin to people who know me. We'll hit the nearest thrift store."  
She pulled his arm towards the little town infront of him.  
Getting the needed items was easy. They were sitting right there. He took what he believed to be his size and left, putting the glasses to his face and leaning against the building to shove on his shoes.  
Cassie caught him. "Did you pay for those?" She hissed.  
He eyed her, "No."  
"Bor'ij, you have to pay for things here," she insisted.  
"No offense Cassie, but I'm from fucking space, I'm not here to participate in the futility of capitalism, or arbitrary rules that conflate with your cognitive dissonance so that you continue to hold onto tenuous grasps of right and wrong, I'm here to save your planet." He finished pulling on the shoes, and was at a loss to do with the laces.  
He decided to tighten and knot them, putting the loose ends on the inside.  
He straightened up and cocked his head at Cassie who was staring at him.  
"I guess...we better get going...let's get some coffee. There's a cafe nearby."  
A Cafe was a small space with humans and food smells. He still wasn't sure what coffee was. Humans talked quietly to themselves, sipping from small bowls.  
"Sit down over there-" She pointed to a table with a booth. He obliged while she went off to get her coffee or whatever.  
He settled down, watching his surroundings with interest. He reached up and squeezed his ear in an unobtrusive gesture. This unlocked the magnetic, tiny, discs that were clamped between his ear.  
It remained unchanged and unobtrusive through morph to morph.  
  



	9. Fight and flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's in the goddamned TREES

  
\--------------------------------  
  
Tobias circled the thermal, gliding down on the hot air that lifted his wings.  
The last scene he had seen was a battle field, dead humans littering her yard, tire scorch marks puddled with blood.  
No bite or claw marks either.  
And no Cassie in sight.  
They were at a lost of what to think.  
  
  
He glided further down to confirm what his sharp eyes already told him, Cassie.  
Strolling down the center avenue, in sunglasses.  
He flapped his wings as he decided what to do.  
If it had been a yeerk attack, she could be a controller...but then she wouldn't likely be sauntering through town.  
  
He decided to contact Jake.  
  
<Hey, boss,>, he felt an irked thought in reply to know he got his attention.  
<I see Cassie, heading down center ave by j street,> he informed him.  
  
<Cassie?> He stopped himself, <What is she doing?>  
  
Tobias sent him a wavy thought, <I dunno, just walking. Doesn't seem to be bothered or acting strangely.>  
  
<I'll approach her,> he said grimily.  
  
Tobias saw a golden reteriever flop across and taking a sharp turn into an ally way, a designated point with hidden clothes for "just in case" scenarios.  
  
He emerged, human, and fully colthed and banked onto J street.  
  
<Keep going, ten yards ahead of you,> Tobias instructed when he noticed Jake falter at where to go.  
  
He caught up to her, so they were side by side.  
"Hey, Cassie," he said.  
  
Cassie swung around, eyes widened in surprise, "Oh, Hey," she replied, recovering herself, "Didn't see you there."  
  
"Yeah, So, what's been happening," he said causally.  
  
"Oh..you know," she looked around, "Things."  
  
He nodded, "Let's talk about it." 

He gently put a hand on her shoulder to direct her to the nearest building.  
  
She stopped short and placed her own hand on his and looked at him.  
A small gentle smile crossed her face.  
  
With a quick motion she squeezed his hand, wrenched it off her shoulder, and twisted it at the forearm before bolting.  
  
<Holy shit!> Tobias exclaimed as he watched "her" run down the street.  
  
Jake was pounding after her, running into people while she was slipping between them.  
  
She rounded into an ally, and Jake hesitated momentiarly before running in after her.  
  
Unlike Jake, she had no hesitation, she leaped onto the nearest dumpster before crunching down and leaping up onto a service ladder, and rapidly climbed up.  
  
In an instance she was on the roof and running with long legged steps.  
  
She almost passed a service door before whipping her arm out to turn the knob, her legs flailing outward to maintain Balance, twisted the knob and disappeared.  
  
Jake only managed to get there two minutes behind. He opened the door but there was no sign of her.  
  
Marco in osprey morph zoomed past him, landing in the small roof of the door.  
<What the hell just happened?!> He demanded, wings half raised and neck lowered in disbelief. 

  
Tobias arrived at the same time, landing next to Marco, looking equally unsettled.  
  
Jake leaned, doubled over, against the door, " I don't know, man, but whoever that was, they were *fast*."  
  
<Was that- was that that andalite dude from the forest?> Tobias asked incredlious, his feathers ruffled around his hunched neck.  
  
Jake took a minute to catch his breath, "I don't know how- How he could assimulate with the human morph so fast.."  
  
<That was INSANE, did you see him jump that dumpster? What the actual fuck?!> Marco shifted from one talon foot to the other and rustled his wings.  
  
"If that's him where the hell is Cassie, " Jake wondered aloud, "What the hell is going *on*?"  
  
He turned to Tobais, "Where's Ax?"  
  
Tobias turned his hawk stare on him <Still guarding the Blade Ship, I don't know what he's going to do if that dude comes around, if he's that quick in a brand new human morph...> he trailed off.  
  
Jake grunted, then cracked a smile, "Better not tell him that, though."  
  
Tobias tried to copy the smile, or the thought of the smile. 

  


Jake stood up and morphed himself into dog mode, when he was on all fours and furry he turned his attention again to Tobias, <Tell Ax not to engage in any fighting with that andalite. At least not until we're there. I'll go find Cassie, or someone who looks like Cassie...or whatever...just...whatever...>  
  
He placed his nose to the ground and trotted off, down the stairs and into the building.  
  
\---------------  
Cassie stared out the door in bewilderment.  
One moment he was there and the next he...was not.  
She took a sip of her coffee. 

Well, obviously he didn't fully trust her not to "betray" him to her friends, or who the hell knows, maybe he just got bored. 

  
Suddenly a large golden retriver burst into the cafe, bounding towards her, causing an eruption of surprised shotuing, and some laughter.  
  
He came straight to her.  
  
<Cassie?> He barked.  
  
She raised an eyebrow.  
"Hey Jakie, what are you doing here?" She looked around to see if people where buying it. Jake was a perfectly acceptable name for a dog.  
  
The dog seemed to squint at her, <Is that really you? What the hell is going on? Why are there a bunch of dead people at your house, where did you go? Why do you have someone with your dna?>  
  
She pursed her lips into a thin line.  
  
"Excuse me, Miss, you can't have animals in here," a man interrupted. He pointed outside.  
  
"Oh, sorry," she apologized, "He just missed me, you know dogs, no manners," she gave Jake a pointed look and left her seat.  
  
  
  
Once they were outside Tobias swooped in low, <Rachel's found him! Come on!>  
  
Cassie's heart sunk.  
  
"Jake, we've got to get her to stop! You've no idea how dangerous Bor'ij is!" She exlaimed as they took after the hawk.  
  
Jake gave her a side glance as he bounded with her.  
"Those controllers," she panted, "He killed them all *in human morph*."  
  
<He just spidermanned up a building and lost me earlier,> he admitted.  
  
They were out of town, in the open rural area, when Cassie crouched over, heaving to catch her breath.  
  
She tore off her outer clothing and focused on her wolf morph, sprouting grey shaggy fur and two inch teeth.  
  
<Tobias, slow down, we can't see you!> He said sharply, he looked concerningly at Cassie.  
  
<I'm fine,> she said, catching his look, <let's go.>

  
\--------—  
The bear roared, a deep throated, vibrating howl of aggitation.  
  
He dodged the clumsy swipe, and danced to the side his tail swinging like a penduleum.  
  
His eyes saught and noted each opening and weakness.  
  
His goal was to leave his opponent so confused they could not continue to follow him- but they were stubborn.  
  
The creature swiped again but he was already behind it.  
  
With two bounds he was on the creature's broad back and then the second bound he was in the branches.  
  
The earth animal bellowed in pain and shock. Well. Four sharp hooves carrying the full weight of a male andalite digging into your back was no gallop in the pasture.  
  
His opponet was entirely too slow to stop him or even register what was happening before he was skittering off onto the branches.  
  
<Is he in the trees,> Jake demanded arriving a second late, <Is he in the goddamned *trees*??>  
  
<No. That's against the rules,> Marco complained coming in with a swoop.  
  
Jake growled in fustration as he demorphed and remorphed into a tiger.  
  
His tail lashed in agitation as he rescented the andalite.  
  
<Excuse me, but what the hell was that,> Rachel snapped, waving a paw in the general direction.  
  
<Jake!> Cassie called. <Don't go by yourself!> She chased after him.  
\--------------------  
  
He was at a delicate fast past moving through the trees,careful to pick the ones able to bare his weight, or what he hoped would bare his weight. Alien trees where alien and all.  
The leaves camflouged him well as he made his path way back to his ship.  
  
He paused and bunched up his muscles to make a powerful leap onto the next closest branch. It bent deeply before deciding to spring back up after all, causing him to bounce a little.  
<Sorry guys,> he said sympathetically to the trees.  
  
He looked down to see stripey prowling quickly on the forest floor, eyes and ears forward, keen to catch a sign of him.  
  
From this vantage point he could easily leap down and break his spine...  
  
Stripey was quickly joined with who he assumed to be Cassie, in her wolf morph.  
  
He backed up and turned around, doubling on his path.  
  
Through his stalk eyes he could see them hesitate, and then turn back around, and yet they had no visual on him...  
  
They must have someone above him...flying.  
  
Oh, this was a full on *hunt*.  
  
He turned a stalk eye to the sky but couldn't see anything through the tangle of branches and leaves  
  
That didn't mean they couldn't see him rustling up the leaves from above.  
  
He quickly changed angles with a sideways skip, ran a few paces, and hit the forest floor again before taking off, kicking up pine needles in his trial.  
  
______  
  
<Come on, Marco,> Rachel barked as she galloped ahead.  
  
Marco had demorphed and remorphed into the forest dwelling wolf form and ran after her.  
\-----------------  
  
Blip.  
  
Bor'ij jerked his head so hard he almost took a tumble.  
  
Yes, yes. That was a definete blip the- he briefly zoned out to listen, his stalk eyes raised to the sky.  
  
When he came back to attention, his main eyes focused, and all the fur spiked along his spine. 

  
\-------------  
  
Ahead of him, and coming in fast, was *that fucker right there*.  
His tail lashed tall and high in anger as he charged onward.  
  
Aximili was the one to strike first. A textbook *calamist* over head strike. 

  
Dull and weak. 

  
Bor'ij swung his tail for a block, but instead of swatting it away he held it.  
Then with the momentum from his charge seized Ax's arms and tossed him to the ground, his body slammed into the earth, and slid from the extra inertia.  
  
Bor'ij wheeled around to bear down on Aximili with his hooves as a weapon, being sure to particalary slam on the lower section of Aximili's spine.  
  
He smiled to himself briefly at his scream of pain. 

  


Aximili's tail fell uselessly around him. 

  


"HURRAAAAHH." 

  


The shaggy claw beast again. 

It'd managed to catch up to him when he was distracted. 

  


<AAghed,> he yelled, fur bristling across his shoulders as a sharp, hot, dragging force was suddenly on his forearm. 

He instantly saw a wolf there. 

  


Bor'ij ripped himself away as fast as he could, but not before another huge paw bared down on him and cut his torso. 

  


His tail whipped back and forth angerily before snapping it at the shaggy alien. 

  


The wolf's mouth, now free, foolishly latched onto the end of his tail, near the blade itself. 

  


Of course the lithe animal was no contention for the tail swing, still the added weight and fury slowed him down and made him miss aim. 

  


Bor'ij shook him off savagly, digging him into the dirt, and wheeled to run. 

  


  


Galloping away His eye stalks watching the scene get smaller behind him, he saw the wolf stay and the shaggy alien come after him. 

  


It'd have no hope of ever catching him.... 

  


He kicked himself up and increased his speed, tail whipping high in the air. He was the fastest andalite alive and no one could catch him. 

  


Soon, he no longer even saw the thing. 

  


He angled himself to a skid and did a little hop as he decided where he was to go next. 

  


With a couple of excited stotts he headed east. 

  


He was in an easy gallop now, taking long strides. 

  


He happened to be looking in that particular patch of sky. 

  


Reacting before thinking he leaped to the side, simulatinously turning in awe as he saw a small, pointy bird of prey shoot past him, talons out. 

  


That would have been his eyes. 

  


He turned about and took off anger, bunching his muscles for a powerful bound forward, to reach his full speed again. 

  


Now his stalk eyes were at working watching the skies for rude feathery assholes. 

  


  


  


  


\------------ 

  


<He's definetely going somewhere,> Tobias informed Jake. 

<Can't get him to change direction at all.>

  


<That's fine,> Jake informed him,< we're in postion..that canyon is up ahead, right?>

  


<Yeah...canyons don't tend to move,> he replied wirly, <...how's Ax?>

He asked tentaively. 

  


<He's ok....he morphed and demorphed.>

  


<Ah.>

  


<We'll have his back this time, > Jake swore. 

  


Tobias flapped his wings, peering at the running andalite from high in the sky, <I believe you.>

  


\---------------- 

  


His hearts were *pounding*. 

Pumping so hard it felt like they were beating his insides, like he'll find himself all bruised inside by the morning. 

  


And it was like fire in his veins, and a hurt in his lungs, a sore yearning ache. 

  


His head felt so light, that he felt he might topple over. 

  


He ran harder and harder. Just to run now, just to be fast and free and for the air to hurt his lungs. 

Legs thrown outward in abandon, like when he was the wolf that had always been and is now and has never been but will always be. 

  


Blip. 

  


\---------------------- 

  


They only had time to re morph and wait a minute or two, before ripping through the grass, exploding into their ambush. 

  


Wolves. The entire pack. Streaking low and angry and grey. 

  


Wolves weren't an ambush animal, but endurance runners, but more endurance than an andalite? Probably not. 

They were cunning and worked as a team. 

  


With that they swarmed on the andalite. 

  


\-----------/- 

  


He noticed them. But he couldn't stop. They were on him. But he couldn't stop. 

  


A wry smile crossed his face. 

  


In the grand scheme of things, or the slightly less grand, wolves were not so bad. 

  


  


Attack from below. He surmised that was the plan. He figured they believed that's where an andalite was most defenseless. 

  


He was going to show them a thing or two about andalites. 

  


\------------------ 

  


They had caught up to him, he'd never even slowed his pace and forced them to run full out with him as well. 

  


Rachel was the first to attack. Aiming for a leg to cripple him with her incredibly strong jaws- but something immediately changed. 

  


His pace- no it was in the way he moved that- a hoof came crashing down on her head, followed straight off by another, sharp hooves flashed slashing her back and causing her to roll out. 

  


She laid, stunned and bleeding, muzzly watching him basically *prance* away. He had changed his gait to an innocent seeming caper. 

  


One leg after the other, High stepped, jaunty even, while keeping his pace. It seemed completely innocent until you considered any creature that may be under him at the time. Those non stop hooves that crashed directly in line with his belly protected his underparts so completely he wasn't even bothering to protect himself with his actual weapon, his bladed tail. 

  


<Rachel?!> someone asked. 

  


She closed her eyes heavily and sighed, <I'm fine,> she muttered. 

  


  


  


  


  


  


  



	10. Too Much

The animorphs were being crushed. Literally.

The sharp dancing hoof work kept the animorphs at bay, relying on the wolf’s instincts and agility to barely dodge out of the way before another hoof came down.

It didn’t even look like the animorphs were overly bothering as he cantered his way on. His tail was swinging in rhythm to his stride.

The animorphs were being crushed. Literally.

The sharp hoofwork kept the animorphs at bay, relying on the wolf’s agility to dodge in and out, still unable to deliver a bite before another hoof came down.

He didn’t even look overtly bothered by it. His tail was swinging in time to his canter.

But it wasn’t entirely a loss, the canyon came into view.

Large, expansive. An orange crack through the earth.

When people think of canyons normally they think of it just as a gap, land one one side, land on the otherside.

Technically, technically, yes, technically yes that is in fact, a canyon.

However, what is also a canyon is a huge solid wall of rock looming over you, it looms over you despite the giant and depthless hole that is between you and it.

So you MIGHT be tempted to think canyons strictly are a space problem, and might not realize it can, in fact, be a vertical problem.

He almost showed a moment’s hesitation when he banked sharply to follow the canyon’s curve.

His main eyes searched the line while his eye stalks swept to to watch the animorphs that kept him walled in, so to speak.

Also with canyons, also, what people might forget is, there are often free standing towers of particularly stubborn rock, carved by the ancient river. Can you imagine, just minding your own business as a giant swimming thing and smacking right into an asshole rock tower out of no where.

Anyway, what were left were tall, rickety looking towers of rock that dotted the expanse.

Which were of little consequence, even if somebody had poor enough judgment to actually try and jump the things, there was still that huge sheer rock wall.

So you’d have to be a reckless idiot to-

Bor’ij leapt.

\--------------------------------------------

He coiled his haunch muscles and leapt, effortless landing, poised and almost delicate looking.

He considered, and then did it again.

Some of the crags weren’t even big enough for all four hooves, but it hardly mattered. He landed perfectly balanced each time. Three hooves, two hooves, whatever.

The animorphs stared in astonishment at this incredibly ill advised feat.

He reached the dead end. And then jumped at it.

Marco complained, as they all watched the andalite climb the sheer rock.

Jake felt his whole body sigh.

he said wearily.

Cassie interjected.

Marco paused. 

she repeated, 

Marco stared at her in disbelief, 

interrupted Jake, demorphing. 

Marco groaned. 

Jake focused on his falcon morph, sprouting feathers across his face, his nose turned like hard plastic and elongated his mouth and nose until it curved into a cruel hook, his shoulders cracking and hitching themselves until they became wings.

The remaining animorphs followed suit.

he explained waiting until the thought speak kicked in. It was just easier than moving his mouth and using words right now.

Marco guessed, 

Jake tilted his head at him, his thought speak curvy, like an amused smile, 

he gave a feather salute the best he could, and flapped off.

\-------------------

Bor'ij made it to the top easily kicked his heels and ran again.

He was vaguely aware at this point it was a little unnatural...there was a far away ache and his hooves were a little tired but that was barely registered as adrenaline pumped through his hearts until he felt the muscles squeaking against each other in protest.

And that should have bothered him, and that should have slowed him down but in this wrongess was a certain freedom, of being powerful, a feeling of being unstoppable as long as he kept moving.

…

…..

Blip.

His legs stretched out far ahead of him. He was vaguely aware that they burned.

His lungs heaved in more air, he was scarcely aware that they were heavy and getting heavier.

The air, the air made him dizzy. His hearts seemed to pound uncontrollably.

He was hardly aware of the screaming some far away part of his mind was doing, spurring him to go faster and faster.

Why?

Because. just do it.

This was because of HIM. Bringing up old feelings he had done his best to bury. It was like nothing he had done the past few years, like he accomplished nothing and he had nothing left to do but scream and scream. 

No, no- he was a hero (whatever that meant) and had friends, and had actually become proud, but that was like. Like nothing now.

He could feel explosive rage stabbing into his hearts and exploding outward spiking his fur. There was just no way he could run as fast as all the emotions colliding into each other wanted him to.

He felt his hoof somehow stumble, than another-  
No-  
The edges of his vision began to darken.

He cursed himself, if he just had a fucking normal-

He crashed.

And it was dark.

Blip. Blip. Blip.


End file.
